Haunted Memories
by Kifo Entiegon
Summary: When dark memories return to your mind in the form of twisted nightmares, sometimes the only thing that you can do is check to make sure the nightmares weren't real. On this particular night, that's just what he tries to do... until he reaches her door. One-shot, rated T for safety.


**Gah. I know. It's been a while since I've been on here and actually put a story up. I'm sorry. I've just been busy and haven't had the enthusiasm to finish my uncompleted stories. But that's something different altogether. Recently I've gotten back into an old favourite show of mine, Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, and this came about. **

**Story takes place about a week after the events of Season 10: March of The Oni with possible room placements being taken from the new Season 11 episode 'A Rocky Start'. There are quotes from the show spoken by Cole, Nya, Zane and Lloyd. The part where Kai speaks is all mine. Also, I still believe that Cole's scar would still show itself in someway if there was enough light to see or with a slight glow in the dark. **

**I do not own anything about Ninjago and the ninja.**

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_**Haunted Memories**_

He woke with a start, eyes wide and breath coming in fast pants. The shadows in his room seemed to darken as he looked around in fear, morphing into nightmares of the past. But they quickly returned to ordinary shadows when he realized where he was and his heartbeat lessened its quick pace thanks to the breathing exercises he had been doing.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to check… make sure everyone was okay like he kept telling himself.

Cautiously he got out of bed and slipped out of his room. As expected, the shadows extended into the hallway beyond. But he chose not to focus on that. He didn't want the nightmares returning to his mind for a second time that night. It was bad enough they decided to return to his mind once already.

The first door he came across was only a few steps away from his own. Cole's room. For a few minutes he just stood there staring at the bamboo and thin sheets of paper that was the sliding screen. Slowly, he reached a hand out to the door.

" _I'm a… ghost…"_

Cole's voice echoed through his head, sending a shiver down his spine. But it was just a memory. Just the nightmare playing through his head again. He knew it was. That had happened over a year ago now. Cole was safe and… and human.

Mostly.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he allowed his hand to gently grasp the doorframe. Quietly, he opened the door just enough to peak into the room. Just like in his own room, shadows crept over the few objects that were placed here and there. The biggest shadow, however, was the form of Cole.

Cole slept soundly despite his friend's inner turmoil. There was no ghostly green glow to his skin like his friend had feared. He was human. With a faint groan, the Master of Earth turned in his sleep, showing his face to his sleepless friend. Showing the slight scar that still glowed a slight green hue despite having seemed to heal.

Even so, he couldn't keep the image of his friend falling into darkness from his mind as he watched him sleep. The nightmare had merged two memories into one; losing Cole to the darkness only for him to emerge as a ghost once more. He shook the nightmare from his head just as Cole started mumbling in his sleep.

" This new cotton candy cake is delicious."

Now that was a new one. Hopefully he didn't try to replicate the recipe when he woke up. But it proved that his friend was going to be all right. Quietly, he closed the door and stepped away, the section of his nightmare concerning his best friend fading from his mind.

Kai would be next. But this time, he was hesitant to see if he was okay… if he was still good. He wasn't sure what exactly happened to the Master of Fire during the Tournament of Elements, but he had seen the slight fear in Lloyd's eyes just after Cole crashed the Roto Jet into the wall… and it was enough to sew the seed of fear into his own mind.

Everyone knew that Lloyd had become Kai's little brother long before the rest of the team. Kai protected him from an erupting volcano for First Spinjitzu Master's sake. So, to see the kid afraid of his 'older brother'…

" _It should have been me. I should be the one with all the power. I _will_ have all the power."_

The shivers that ran down his spine were as cold as the words that nightmare Kai had spoken. The darkness in his eyes as he spoke seemed to weigh heavily over him as his heart quickened its pace and his hand reached out to the second door of the night. Taking a breath so as not to rip the screen from the wall and alert his fiery brother of any false danger, he slowly opened the door and peaked in.

He was sleeping soundly… like he should have been. Despite the shadows, his features seemed peaceful. In fact he had the same kind of expression that he usually felt on his own face whenever he was thinking about the Fire Master's sister. No doubt Kai was dreaming of his girlfriend, Skylor.

Fears dispelled once more, he removed himself from the doorway and closed the screen. He closed his eyes for a second. Why would he believe that Kai was ever going to turn evil? The guy may be hotheaded and generally asks questions like fifteen minutes after he's gone and destroyed the enemy or something. But he was too loyal to his brothers to even think about hurting them intentionally.

With that thought, he turned away from the door leading to the Master of Fire's room. Just like Cole, Kai would be fine. But the chill from the memory reminded him of another part of the nightmare. Silently he turned the corner and headed for his other friend's room, trying to keep the memory of Zane fighting against the Overlord at bay.

" _Support me, friends, for one last time."_

Those words still brought nightmares… even after two years. They were part of the nightmare he had had that night. And he still wasn't sure how he had managed to hear his nindroid friend with how low he had spoken.

Before he knew it, he was standing in front of Zane's sliding door. It was odd, though, opening his friend's door and seeing the still form of the titanium ninja. He knew his friend was still alive… somehow. But the fear of losing him again to something as dark as the Overlord or even just a virus was taking hold of his mind again.

He had to shake his head and focus on the extremely low hum that seemed to come from his friend as he slept. It was the only way to keep himself from completely panicking like he wanted to… the only way to remind himself that his friend was not lost or destroyed.

He closed the door and backed into the wall on the other side of the hallway. He needed to calm himself down before he continued on his path. If he didn't breathe through the panic that was starting to rise once more, the others were bound to wake up. And he didn't want the others to worry about the nightmares he was having.

Breathe. Just like Master Wu had taught him. In through the nose, hold it for three, out through the mouth. In through the nose, hold it for three, out through the mouth. Surprisingly quickly, the panic subsided. His friends were fine… at least three of them were. Four if you included Pixal. His dreams had been merciful when it came to the new Samurai X.

Taking a final deep breath, he turned away from Zane's door and walked towards the youngest ninja's room. The kid had plenty of nightmare material built up for him. From unleashing the serpentine tribes to almost dying at the hands of his evil father. But nothing scared him more than what had happened nearly a week ago now.

" _What do we have to lose?"_

He didn't even hesitate when he opened the Green Ninja's door to check on him, though he was still quiet about it. He needed to know the kid was still alive, still breathing. But he couldn't get the image of Lloyd's lifeless body out of his mind… and he really needed to if he was ever going to get back to sleep at all that night.

Lloyd was sleeping soundly, though. Just like everyone else. Well, everyone but him. He turned over in his sleep as he was being watched, but he did not stir. He left his friend with his back to the door. No need to wake anybody. The door slid closed silently despite the loud sigh he wanted to let out.

Quietly he moved to his final door. Her door. But something stopped him from even going up to it let alone opening it. Just thinking about what had happened to her, his nightmare forcing him to relive that dreadful day, was enough to send an unbidden tear falling down his cheek. And the shadows on the door seemed to play with his memories.

" _Guess it's true. The greatest love stories do always end in tragedy."_

The words were chilling to the bone. Remembering how much pain she had been in as she drew her last breath. Remembering how cold she was quickly becoming even as she faded away. It was too much for him to take. Hers was the only door he didn't open that night, instead running from it in a failed attempt to rid his mind of that day. He didn't even know where his feet were carrying him to until he opened the doors that lead outside.

The crisp night air struck him almost instantly like one of Cole's fists in his stomach during training. A shock to the system, yes, but a welcome one. It proved that he was still alive, able to feel the cool embrace of the wind. Not about to go crazy again like he had done before in the Realm of Oni and Dragons.

Taking a deep breath, still trying to steady his nerves, he looked around the courtyard. The dragon statue glistened gold under the bright moonlight. In fact, the moonlight bathed the entire area in its soft embrace. But there was only one thing on his mind as he stepped away from the warmth inside.

With fists clenched, he charged at the mural painted on the wall to his right. He didn't stop until his fist was firmly on _his _face. Not once, not twice. The third time his fist landed on the smug face of the djinn that caused all the trouble, he knew that he no longer had the strength behind it. But he knew he had to do something. What happened may have been turned into a painful memory now, but he couldn't keep the pain from losing his girl hidden forever.

He had let it out before, usually during the night against a practice dummy or some unfortunate piece of landscape. Often, he kept it bottled up for when a battle occurred so that he could use the enemy as an excuse for helping get rid of his fear and anger.

But he was not like Kai or Cole or Zane or even Lloyd. They handled things with full blown rage or somehow worked it out of their systems silently. Not him. Usually he would just sit in his room, curled up on his bed and cry out his nightmares, trying not to wake anyone else in the process.

He could feel the tears coming more freely now, sliding down his cheeks just like his hand now sliding against the painted djinn on the monastery wall. He hadn't had that memory in a while now, but it was as fresh as the day it happened. He doesn't even know how he was able to remember the whole thing when the others clearly couldn't.

Well, everyone but Nya. He and Nya were the only two who remembered everything. That was why there was an evil djinn painted on the monastery wall. Thinking about it, maybe one more punch would make him feel better. But his fists stayed limply by his side as he glared at the image that Master Wu had wanted him to explain, the memories that he wanted to keep buried within him until the day he died.

" Jay?"

The sound of her voice made him spin around so fast that his head almost went dizzy. Then again, seeing her standing in the now lit doorway of the monastery, alive and well, was making his head spin anyway. But even this far away, he could see the concern in her eyes. And he more than definitely heard it in her voice.

A faint curse managed to escape his lips as he realised that he had woken her. And, judging by the faint footsteps coming from within the monastery, everyone else as well. This was not what he wanted. Quickly, he scrubbed at his face in an attempt to remove the traces of his tears from sight.

" Jay, what's wrong?" She asked again, taking slow steps towards her boyfriend.

" It's nothing, Nya." He sighed, turning away from both the wall and his girlfriend. "Go back to bed. I'm sorry I woke you."

" It obviously wasn't nothing seeing as you were punching Nadakhan in the face."

" You saw that?"

She didn't have to say anything. She just stood in front of him and took his hand. That was all he needed to know that she had seen at least part of his break down.

" Was it that dream again?" she asked quietly.

" You know very well that it wasn't a dream, Nya." His voice was dark but at the same time portrayed his fear.

" Is everything okay out here?" Zane's voice penetrated the night.

Jay's eyes widened in fear as he turned to find his brothers standing in the monastery doorway, each one rubbing the sleep from their eyes despite clearly being confused. He'll eventually get around to telling the others about what had happened… eventually. But now was not the time. Especially with the nightmare hanging around in the back of his mind.

Once again, Nya was the saviour. " You guys head back to bed. I've got this."

The boys followed her word without question. In fact, they seemed more than happy to turn themselves around and trudge back to their own beds. This left only him and Nya alone in the courtyard, the girl holding the boy's hand in a not-too-tight hold that clearly said that there was nothing to fear.

They stood in silence for a few moments after that. It almost felt like they were waiting for the others to return to their sleep. But then Nya turned to face him again.

" Do you want to tell me about it?" She asked.

He took a little while longer before he responded. " They were just memories. Mostly."

" Mostly?"

" The stupid nightmare turned Kai evil. Then he became the Overlord and turned the world to darkness which swallowed Cole and killed Lloyd. Zane blew himself up again to destroy the Overlord just in time for Cole to come back as a ghost. Then Nadakhan appeared and you were there… you were…"

" But your final wish changed that and I'm here now. Isn't that what matters?"

" Yeah. You're safe. The others are safe."

" And no one is dead."

She smiled softly as she finished his train of thought for him. Just looking into her eyes, he knew that she was right. His nightmare was only that, a nightmare. No one was dead. They were all safe.

And that was what mattered most of all.


End file.
